Last week I read with intrigue the court report of the incident between a self-confessed prostitute Tracy Gill, 31, and her regular client, 30-year-old Jason “Iron Pig” Greenidge.
It also got me thinking. First, of the dangers both Gill and Greenidge exposed themselves to in order to have relations. The woman reported the man took her in a car, with others inside of it, to an abandoned building near to his house because his girlfriend was at home.
Though it was Gill’s choice to get into that vehicle with more than one man in it, that decision in other countries and other circumstances could have resulted in her being gang-raped, beaten, robbed or even killed. This is the reality of doing such work. That she went into an abandoned building is also evidence of how such workers have to compromise their safety to earn money.
Another worrying factor is that after being unable to get an erection, and after Gill tried some 45 minutes to stir him to life through oral sex, Greenidge became threatening and then stole her money. Again, when such work must be done in isolation, strong men do at times overpower the women and rob them.
The fact that Greenidge had his girlfriend waiting on him at home shows how some men, in spite of having a steady relationship, still pay for sex on the street. And when such sex is without the use of condoms, it promotes the growth of sexually transmitted infections in many societies. Thankfully most professional prostitutes, like Gill, insist on the use of condoms.
We can dissect this issue even more, but I think the point has been made that this incident demonstrates the need for those who engage in prostitution, and those who support them, should be able to conduct their business in safe surroundings; and in an environment where the workers are educated about, and empowered to insist on condom use to protect their health as well as their clients’.
What I’m suggesting is that this country looks soberly at decriminalising sex work.
There are presently four basic approaches:
1. Totally criminalise all aspects of sex work – the model we use here;
2. Criminalise aspects of sex work, while decriminalising others, as is done in Sweden and Germany;
3. Legalise sex work within certain narrowly regulated conditions and designated areas as Amsterdam in the Netherlands has done;
4. Removing all the laws that criminalise sex work, as is the case in New Zealand.
Many human rights and women’s advocates argue that decriminalisation is the only model that can safeguard the human rights of sex workers as it gives them the right to refuse sex, the right to be covered by current labour and health laws, and the right to have the assistance of police in times of need.
Of course, I realise that this concept challenges many people’s negative ideas about sex work and sex workers.
But decriminalising sex work is not the same as morally supporting it.
